


The Family Chase: Blackwell Daze

by TheSwordLesbian



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - No Rewind Time Powers (Life is Strange), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drunk Driving, Emotional Instability, Emotional Roller Coaster, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Wardfield, F/F, Funeral, Post-Save Arcadia Bay Ending, Self-Hatred, Slow Burn, Trans Female Character, Trans Victoria Chase, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:33:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27444940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSwordLesbian/pseuds/TheSwordLesbian
Summary: The problem with being the top of the social food chain, is that Victoria Chase has a long way to fall.But maybe when she gets to the bottom, she'll find something worth climbing back out for.
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Dana Ward, Victoria Chase/Kate Marsh
Comments: 25
Kudos: 42





	1. Fugue State

**Author's Note:**

> Hai all, and welcome to the prequel story for my Chasemarsh future fic series [The Family Chase](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943341)!
> 
> What will follow in these chapters is the heartbreaking fall of Victoria Chase and her journey to find love and redemption. There will be dark times and rough moments on her way to becoming the woman she truly wants to be.

Victoria sat on her bed staring blankly at nothing. The room around her, a mess, torn apart in a fit of rage and pain days ago. Her eyes burned, bloodshot and ringed red from being cried out over and over again. Her body ached, stiff and sore from being stuck rigid in the same position. How long has she been sitting here? Minutes? Hours? Days? She doesn’t remember, it doesn’t matter. 

Nothing matters anymore. Her best friend fell apart and murdered someone. For the second time apparently. Rachel Amber, the golden girl, the prodigy child, rotting in a junkyard for months. Her idol, Mark Jefferson, a predator. Kidnapping girls so he could ‘capture their innocence’ or some fucked up shit. 

“Fuck them” she croaked. Voice broken and cracked. Her throat dry as a bone from going who knows how long without anything to drink other than vodka. “And fuck me.” She muttered polishing off the last of her bottle before letting it slip from her fingers onto the floor. Didn’t break. Wouldn’t matter if it did, she thought. Just more garbage for the pile that is Victoria Chase. One more piece of the throne of refuse and hatred she’s built for herself here. Queen of the school, standing shoulder to shoulder with evil.

What a trio they make. A psychopath, a murderer, and a... what does that make her? A monster? “Yeah that’s fitting.” She says to no one. Kate Marsh gets drugged and passed around the football team like a party favor and what does the illustrious Victoria Chase do? She fucking filmed it and put it out there for the world to see. Unquestionably the worst moment of that girl’s life and Victoria Chase laughed the entire time.

She let out an exhausted sigh. She was getting too sober for these thoughts, and now she was all out of vodka. She stood up on shaking legs and turned towards the door. Staring at the wall wouldn’t give her any answers, not that she was looking for any. She grabbed her keys off the table. No idea where her purse is, she wasn’t going to bother looking for it. The door latched behind her as she shuffled her way into the hall, pointedly ignoring the cards and flowers sitting in front of the door across from hers. Caulfield had left this afternoon, or yesterday, or last week. Who fucking knows what day it is, or was, or will be. The hipster got dragged off crying by her hipster parents. Probably a good thing, she’s too good of an artist for this place. Better than Victoria Chase that’s for sure, though she’ll never admit that out loud. It's good that she’s gone, safe from monsters like Nathan and Jefferson and Victoria. 

The October air did little to shake her out of her thoughts as she shambled her way out the door and through the quad. Where was she going? No one knows, least of all her. Just fucking away. Give this school a break from the constant cloud of self-loathing and entitlement that she practically blocked out the sun with wherever she went. 

She trudged across the grounds til she found herself in the parking lot, mindlessly heading towards her pristine white audi. What a fucking eyesore, perfect for Victoria Fucking Chase. Stand out in a crowd and make sure to look better than everyone else in the process. The car chirped and she climbed in behind the wheel. Too sober for thoughts, definitely not sober enough to drive. But when has that stopped Victoria Chase before. She reached a trembling hand up to push the start and after missing once the car quietly sprung to life. “At least one of us is functioning.” she muttered before putting the car in gear and accelerating out onto the road.

Where is she going? Who knows, who cares. It doesn’t matter anyway. She can’t get far enough away. She never will. She can leave Blackwell. She can leave Arcadia Bay. Hell, she could drive all the way back to Seattle. But it won’t be enough because she can never drive far enough to get away from herself. Victoria Chase. The Monster. The Queen Bitch of Blackwell. The shell of a teenager stuffed so full of manners and entitlement and endless bullshit about ‘Maintaining a Legacy’. The failed son her parents tried to hold onto. The prim and proper, perfect daughter they settled for. An 18 year old girl so filled to the brim with insecurities and self-hatred that it all spills out and taints everything she puts her hands on. Anger filed to a razor edge and wielded like a weapon against anyone who may slight her. Whether they deserve it or not. No one can be better than a Chase. And if they are, then she has to knock them down a peg. Or so her parents had taught her. 

But then her best friend murdered someone. Two someones. And now all those lessons about being better than everyone else have left a bit of a sour taste in her mouth. Victoria Chase isn’t better than them, she’s beneath them. Just a monster wallowing around in her own destruction. And that’s all she’s ever been, all she’ll ever be. Nothing more than a-

“Can I help you miss?”

Victoria shook her head, blinking. “Wait what?” She looked around. She was standing in front of a sterile white door, hand held out like she was about to knock or turn the handle or something. She looked to her right, long hallway, chairs, carts, machines… Arcadia Bay Medical Center. 

“Miss?”

She turned left, snapped out of her thoughts. A man was talking to her. A tall man. Wavy graying hair, intense but kind facial features, strangely familiar hazel eyes. She glanced over at the chart in the file holder by the door.

**MARSH, K.**

Fuck… She needed to get away from here right now. She stumbled back a couple of steps before recovering and powering past the man without responding, heading for the exit as fast as she could. How the fuck did she get here? How long had she been standing in front of that door like a zombie? She made it out the building and spotted her car, rushing towards it and locking herself inside.

The fog that had been clouding her mind cleared up and everything came back to her. It’s Thursday, October 10th. When the police investigated Kate Marsh after Nathan spilled his guts they found several suicide letters she’d written and thrown away. She was hospitalized for observation. “Why the fuck am I here?” After a while she still hadn’t come up with an answer and she chalked it up to the alcohol. She sighed and reached to turn the car on when her whole body seized in a cramp from her stomach. Right, she should probably eat something, it’s been three days. She pulled out of the parking lot and started heading towards something food-related. The thought still clawing at the back of her mind… Why did she go there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you next time. It's going to get worse before it gets better.  
> But I assure you it WILL get better.  
> Eventually.


	2. Paying Respects

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria never should have come here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter 2.  
> It's still getting worse.

Victoria never should have come here. She was standing at the back of the crowd at Chloe Price’s funeral. Why did she come here? Part of it was guilt, her best friend had killed the punk girl after all. But the other part, surprisingly enough, she actually wanted to pay her respects. Chloe Price wasn’t her friend, they didn’t even like each other. In fact, they hated each other. Both of them spent years trading barbs back and forth, at school, at parties, just because. Victoria doubts she ever had a single nice thing to say about the blue-haired girl that wasn’t laced with sarcasm and malice. But in reality Chloe was the number one person on a very short list of people with the guts to stand up to Victoria Chase’s bullshit. And truthfully, she could respect that.

But she should not have come. She’s realised too late that she’s way too sober to deal with this. Victoria stupidly thought that drinking beforehand would have been bad. It just would have made her a sloppy, swaying mess. A hair trigger that could go off at the smallest perceived grievance. 

This though… this is way worse. Because now she’s too coherent to avoid thinking and seeing and fucking feeling everything. And all eyes are on her, but they aren’t… but they always are. _A Chase should always be the center of attention._ And she hates herself so much for thinking that. No one is looking at her. Well… someone is… She tentatively glances back up from her feet to the group across the casket. A handful of other Blackwell girls sniffling and holding each other. One of them though, is glaring right at her. 

Dana Ward, eyes ringed red from fury and the tears that left tracks down her cheeks. Staring at Victoria with an anger that said ‘the only thing keeping me on this side of the group from you is respect for Chloe and her family’. She doesn’t have to guess what the cheerleader is thinking. She already knows. She’s already thinking it herself. How dare she come here. This place is not for her. She doesn’t deserve the right to grieve Chloe Price.

Victoria pulled her eyes away from the enraged girl staring daggers at her. Some of the other mourners here seem pretty reasonable, a few more girls from Blackwell that probably knew Chloe at least on a peripheral level. Justin and Trevor, the stoner skater bros, both standing there in ill-fitting suits. As far as she could remember Price was a skater too, they were probably pretty good friends. 

Further around the crowd was David Madsen, Blackwell’s own rent-a-cop bulldog, she couldn’t imagine what a hell it must have been for Chloe to live with that man. And standing next to him was what Victoria assumed to be Chloe’s mom. She recognized the woman from drunken late-night trips to that greasy diner downtown. The look on her face chilled Victoria to the bone. The look of a woman that had had so much of importance ripped from her life by the universe. She couldn’t imagine what the woman must be feeling. To lose your only daughter just a handful of years after losing your husband. Victoria had to look away, before she got lost in that stare. 

Next in line was Max Caulfield, flanked by the two people who seem to have contributed 50% of their genetics to the girl. Her dad, tall and burly. Her mom, petite and sharp-looking. Both looking like they’d just lost a daughter themselves. But Max… Max looked like the entire world had just ended. All of the life and vibrancy and spark in her eyes that Victoria had spent months trying to verbally stomp out of her, gone in a flash. Bled out all over the floor of a bathroom alongside Chloe Price. Victoria had learned after the fact that Price and Caulfield had supposedly been best friends for years before Max left town. And apparently the hipster hadn’t had the chance to track her down and reconnect. What a horrifying reunion that had to be for her… Not to see your best friend for years and then suddenly reunited as she bleeds out on the floor. The brunette looked like someone picked the words “trauma”, “guilt”, and “grief” out of the dictionary and made a hipster-shaped collage out of them. She was staring forward but Victoria was certain she wasn’t actually looking at anything. Her eyes unfocused and constantly leaking, spilling out more and more tears for the best friend she never got to see again. The word haunted comes to mind. Which was fitting because Victoria expected the look on Max Caulfield’s face to haunt her for quite a while.

The real surprise guest though was standing next to Max. Kate Marsh in all her dowdy church girl glory had come to Chloe Price’s funeral. Why exactly? Victoria obviously wasn’t about to go ask, but if she had to guess, it might have been out of thanks? Chloe Price’s murder uncovered all the dark bullshit that was happening under everyone’s nose and vindicated Kate as a victim. If Nathan hadn’t shot her in that bathroom then the world would have continued to see Kate Marsh as just a hypocritical slut like everyone thought. Now though, now the truth was out. Kate was a victim. Preyed upon by monsters like Jefferson and Nathan and Victoria. She shouldered all that bullshit and came out the other side standing strong. She was a survivor. And Victoria would almost find that inspiring if she hadn’t been the one mercilessly tearing the poor girl down for the past month and a half. She doesn’t deserve to feel awe for the person she tried to break. The only thing Victoria Chase deserves to feel is the shame and disgust and disdain befitting a monster such as herself. She didn’t even deserve to look at Kate Marsh. So Victoria looked away… and straight into a very familiar pair of hazel eyes.

Fuck… The man from the hospital. The one that caught her outside Kate’s room like some stupefied zombie blankly staring at the door. Standing next to Kate Marsh, she now realised why he looked so familiar yesterday. This man was very clearly the girl’s father, and he was staring right at her with a discerning look on his face, as if he were trying to figure out what her deal was. Or maybe it wasn’t discerning… empathy? Pity? She hoped it wasn’t pity. Victoria Chase didn’t deserve pity from the father of the girl she almost murdered. She quickly snapped her gaze back down before he saw too deeply into her soul with those hazel eyes. 

She decided it was best if she spent the rest of the service staring at her feet. Lest she had to endure the glares or stares or far too perceptive eyes of anyone else in attendance. After the preacher had finished droning on and Chloe Price was laid to rest Victoria saw this as the best moment to make her exit. She quietly turned on her heel and started making her way to the cemetery gates. She’d almost made it when she felt someone grab her wrist and spin her around to face them. 

Dana fucking Ward stood there glaring at her, with Victoria’s wrist still firmly grasped in her hand. Quietly, the cheerleader snapped at her. “What the fuck are you doing here Victoria!?”

Victoria was stunned. Here she was, the garbage monster queen of Blackwell, trying to do something good for ONCE in her life and she’s being attacked for it? She wanted to defend herself and her reason for being there but… old habits die hard, and those Chase brand instincts to maim and destroy whatever got in her way started kicking in again and How. Fucking. DARE. This bitch lay her fucking hands on Victoria Chase. The blonde snatched her arm back and squared her shoulders before opening her mouth to attack. Fortunately for her Joyce Madsen chose this exact moment to come talk to the girls.

“It means so much to David and I that you girls came today.” She said stepping up to the silently warring teenagers. 

Dana turned towards the older woman and opened her mouth to reply but Victoria cut her off.

“Sorry for your loss Mrs. Madsen.” Though she kept her eyes on Joyce the entire time, Victoria was pretty sure the cheerleader was looking at her as if she’d grown a second head.

Dana quickly turned back to the older woman and pulled her into a hug. “Of course Joyce, I’m so so sorry. If you need anything.”

“Thank you hon.” She pulled back from the hug, keeping her hands resting on Dana’s shoulders. “And thank your friend again for me when you see her too.” she said, turning to walk back over towards David. 

Dana turned to look at Victoria again but the blonde was nowhere in sight. “Fucking bitch.” she muttered under her breath. Why the fuck did Victoria Chase show up here? To rub salt in the wound? Her deranged best friend kills Chloe and she has the nerve to show up and gawk at the wreckage left behind. If Joyce hadn’t walked up she likely would have thrown the bitch out on her a-

“Hey... Dana?”

The cheerleader turned around to see Max Caulfield meekly standing behind her. Not quite looking down, but not really looking at her either. “Heeey Max.” She wrapped the brunette in a tight hug. “How are you doing?”

Max swallowed before responding. “I… Uh…”

Dana mentally kicked herself for asking such a stupid question. “Shit. Sorry…”

“Its uh... “ she swallowed again. “It’s okay. I was wondering…”

The taller girl pulled back to look Max in the eye. Those sad, hurt, heartbroken blue eyes. “What’s up Max?”

The brunette let out a long sigh. “My parents have to drive home. And, I told them I wanted to stay. But…” She looked down blinking back tears. “But I don’t really want to be alone right now.”

Dana pulled her back into another tight hug. “Hey it’s okay. I can totally keep you company.” She pulled back again looking down at Max, “Want to grab a pizza on the way back to the dorm?”

“Yeah…” Max said quietly. “Yeah that sounds nice.”

\------

The rhythmic clack of Victoria’s heels against the asphalt as she fled the graveside felt like a hammer hitting a raw nerve every step she took. Her car chirped as she approached and she threw her bag across the passenger seat as she got in, slamming the door closed behind her and punching the steering wheel. “Stupid fucking bitch!” Whether she was talking about herself or Dana Ward she wasn’t quite sure. But both of them were right. She never should have come here. Victoria let out a long sigh before reaching behind her seat and pulling out a brand new bottle of vodka. Cracking the lid loose she took a long swig from the bottle, letting the burn singe away all of the bullshit from the last two hours. She replaced the cap and stared out the windshield at the road. Why did she ever think she could do something good… “Stupid fucking bitch.” She said to herself as she put the car in drive and sped out of the cemetery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading everyone!  
> And thank you to [DMMeeble](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DMMeeble) for helping me chew on this chapter a bit. You should go check out her works they're awesome!
> 
> See you next time  
> <3


	3. Losing Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria tries to come up for air before she starts drowning again, and commits to something she should have done sooner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to update. Life’s been crazy and I’ve been low on spoons.  
> Hope you enjoy this chapter.  
> We’re still firmly in the hurt for now.

Victoria shuffled her way down the dormitory hallway. She’d actually managed to put some effort into herself today... Not to the usual, perfectionist, ‘A Chase must be the brightest person in the room’ standards, but it would suffice. At the very least, she’s wearing clean clothes. It’s not like she had class today anyway. It’s monday, she’s pretty sure, but classes are still cancelled for the time being. Still, she needed to get out of her room, she’d started going stir crazy. And she’s out of vodka anyway. 

She trudged her way down the hall until she was standing in front of 224. _“I’ve been ignoring her for too long, maybe hanging out with Tay can help me feel normal again?”_ She reached up with her hand and knocked on the door. After a minute of no response she knocked again. 

“Tay-” her voice cracked, worn out from a week of screaming and sobbing and consuming nothing but alcohol. She swallowed the gravel in her throat before trying again. “Taylor.” After another minute with no answer she was starting to get impatient. She banged on the door louder, “Taylor! Wake up bitch, let’s go get some fucking starbucks or something.” More time passed without an answer and by this point Victoria was out of what little patience she had to start with. Knocking be damned, she tried the door handle and it wasn’t locked so she barged in. “Taylor! Get your fat as-” 

Her heart immediately sank into her stomach. Taylor’s room was completely stripped bare. Pillows, sheets, clothes, all gone. The walls, once covered floor to ceiling in Taylor’s Broadway show posters, now empty and bare. Victoria’s heart started racing as she spun in circles trying to make sense of the barren room. _“Where is she?? Where did she go?!”_ She was starting to hyperventilate now. _“My phone. Where’s my phone?!”_

Victoria ran out of the room and sprinted down the hall towards her own. Struggling to get her key in the lock. “Come on! You stupid-” at last the key went in and the threw the door open and stormed in. _”Where is it?!”_ She vaguely remembered throwing it at the wall days ago. She scrambled around on the floor digging through a pile of clothes and everything she’d thrown off her desk before she finally found the cursed thing. Flipping it over in her hands she saw the heinously cracked screen from the impact and she started panicking even more. As she scrambled over to her bed on all fours to plug the dead device in, she desperately prayed that it wasn’t damaged. _“Please work! please please plea-”_ “Yes!!” The phone lit up and she almost started crying with joy that it wasn’t broken while she waited for the painstakingly slow start up. She unlocked the phone and the notifications started rolling in after days of being offline.

**99+ NEW Messages**  


**41 Missed Calls**

She clicked on the message app and started scrolling. Useless messages from fairweather friends wondering where she was. Harassing texts from her parents about maintaining an image. Stupid, useless, nonsense. She finally located Taylor’s contact and started skimming through numerous ‘where are you’ messages trying to find some sort of clue as to what’s going on. _“Where did she go? She wouldn’t just leave right? Not without saying som-”_ A strangled sob choked its way out of her as she found what she’d been looking for.

**Tay:** _V… my mom’s pulling me out of Blackwell._

**Tay:** _She says it's not safe here. She wants me back in Portland._

**Tay:** _V where did you go? No one’s seen you since friday._

**Tay:** _I don’t want to go without seeing you._

Victoria rubbed at the tears streaming down her face, trying to clear her eyes enough to continue reading through the messages.

**Tay:** _I tried knocking on your door. I don’t know if you’re in there or not._

**Tay:** _Please Victoria, I have to leave tonight._

**Tay:** _I’m all packed up… I guess you’re done with me or something._

**Tay:** _I’ll miss you V… don’t forget me, alright?_

A sob wracked through the blonde’s body as the tears flowed from her eyes coupled with great heaving breaths. She buried her face in her hands as she wept. _“She’s gone… she’s gone and my stupid selfish ass didn’t even give her the chance to say bye.”_ Victoria’s best friend… her only real friend, was gone. Taylor, who wore the minion badge with pride but had her back no matter the situation was gone. And now, Victoria Chase, was truly alone.

A choked cough broke her out of her depressive spiral long enough to look up at the sound. In her haste to get into her room she’d left her door wide open. And across the hall, staring right at her, was one Max Caulfield, half out of the door of her own room. It seemed like she was leaving her room and caught sight of Victoria’s meltdown and halted. The blonde gave her a glance over through the streaming tears. She looked every bit as rough as Victoria felt, maybe moreso. Her clothes disheveled, her cheeks stained with tears, those bold blue eyes just so haunted. She bored into the abyss of Victoria’s soul with those eyes. Both girls just stayed there, eyes locked on each other for who knows how long. So many unspoken words in the looks each gave the other. Tears running down both their faces. Neither of them moved. Until a sound from the room next door broke their trance and made them turn their heads. 

Soft notes on strings. Kate Marsh. Playing her violin, for the first time in what felt like months. Tears kept flowing down Victoria’s face as she stared at the wall between their rooms. Drinking in the sad melodies from the girl next door. The girl Victoria almost broke. The girl she’d yet to apologise to. Would Kate even accept an apology from a monster like Victoria? She swallowed the anguish in her throat as she silently wept, drinking in the music like a long suffering tree that was getting rain for the first time in years. 

At that moment she made up her mind. She needed to apologise to Kate Marsh. 

The music stopped and she turned to look back at Max, who was already looking at her. Appraising Victoria with her sorrowful deep blue eyes. The brunette just nodded and turned around, apparently forfeiting whatever she had been planning to do. Victoria watched her shuffle back into her room and close the door behind her. She sat there, on the floor, for what seemed like hours. Just staring at the door across from her, and thinking of the broken girl who’d had the world taken away from her in a matter of seconds. And of the tormented girl next door, with her sad strings and tearful music. She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but when she started losing feeling in her legs she got up and slowly moved to close the door before climbing into bed and giving up on the day, Tomorrow though… Tomorrow she would talk to Kate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Rain and Mia for betaing this chapter.  
> <3


End file.
